#wearedupe

Marta Margnetti’s balcony in Bern, Switzerland

Who are you and what do you do?

That’s maybe the most difficult question, isn’t it? Authorities would say that I’m 27, living in Switzerland. I grew up in the south Italian part of Switerland called Ticino. One of the worst and most beautiful place in this country. I just finished an MA in Contemporary Arts Practice in Bern, and for three years I’ve been managing an art space in Lugano with some friends.

If I really have to say what I do, I simply answer that I’m an artist. Normally this answer engages a lot of discussions. More precisely I manage different materials, I draw, I write and I take part in performances. When I’m bored of the art world (almost always), I just go to concerts or stay on my balcony all day long. I’m quite slow in everything I do. But people say I do a lot… so it’s fine I think.

I have no personal furniture. I’ve furnished my room with found objects that I collected from my flatmates.  My room fits in a car and I’m planning to move from Switzerland soon for a while. But don’t ask me where. Ok, if you ask I would say Italy. But I don’t know yet where exactly. Everything is too nice and comfortable here. Somehow unreal. It’s like sleeping for years in a big bed with clean sheets. I will probably come back but at the moment I feel like I need a kick in the butt.

I’m an aquarius, I live in the air.

Ecken, painted wood, Centre Pasquart, Bienne 2016

Describe you practice in 5 words.

Handcrafted, ornamental, repetitive, flat, modular. l’ll offer you a bonus track: Uselessfull. I don’t really speak German but I think they are used to composing a word out of may words. That’s very useful.

Sleepknödel, Old bed sheets, old t-shirt, tape, acryl, concrete, Dienstgebäude, Zurich 2016

Who or what inspires you?

My musician friends. Punk. My bedroom. Couches. My body. Artisanship. The idea of people living alone in the woods. The Black Mountain College was a nice discovery for me. I dream of opening a place inspired by it here in Ticino.

Routine Again, Performing the Black Mountain College, Hamburger Bhanhof, Berlin 2015

What are your chosen tools?

Pencil and paper.

Zusammenkunft w/ Lucas Herzig, 24hrs Project, Tart Gallery, Zurich 2015

Can you talk us through your making process?

Yes I can try. I have two main and separate practices: writing and making visual things. I can’t do both at the same time. I write for weeks, or I manipulate material for weeks. I have a big archive with very different pictures that I collect daily. I have never published or presented my texts. I use them more as inspiring pictures which are part of my archive. I combine them and usually start from there. Then I draw the idea. Finally I choose the material and the technique. Or the contrary. The architecture of the space is also an element that I consider. And then I literally start with a production that is often exhaustive, repetitive and drives me crazy. I love the moment when, as a friend said, the material starts dictating what you do.

Fabrics, old bed sheets, guache, aluminium, Roadside Picnic w/ Lucas Herzig, Lokal-int, Bienne 2015

You’re originally from Ticino and are currently studying in Bern. Did changing region, city and language inform your practice in any way?

I started calculating everything! You know, Swiss people are very precise, especially in the German part. This is a cliché but it is partially true. Sometimes I get mad because of this rigid way of thinking. They have a funny onomatopoeic vocabulary to express the sensation of precision. I’m a very messy person, but my work started to be more precise and designed even if I try to keep a part of the work uncontrolled.

99 Failles, Ceramic, w/ Delphine Battiaz, Usine, Genève 2015

You co-run the independent art space Sonnenstube in Lugano, can you tell us about this project? http://diesonnenstube.ch

A few years ago, I was living in Ticino for a year, working in a gallery. I was very disappointed because I realised that there was very little possibilities for contemporary there (as opposed to commercial art). Right in front of the gallery where I was working, there was an empty open space. Quite nice and not so expensive. So I called people around me who were already somehow engaged in promoting art and music and asked them if they were interested in opening a new space. We opened within one month. Today, three years after, the space is still running. We host around six exhibitions and thirty concerts per year. We try to build a bridge between the locals, the north of Switzerland and Italy while promoting artists that are younger than 35.

Wasted, plaster, Museo Cantonale, Lugano 2016

What are you working on next?

Right now, I’m preparing a performance about shame with my friend Juergen Bogle. And in August I will move into a new studio, shared with 12 other artists.

I would like to find the right way to present my cheesy poems.

In January 2017 I will showcase the italian artist and musician Giacomo Laser aka Gioacchino Turù in Sonnenstube. As a goodbye I offer you one of his songs: 

http://diesonnenstube.ch/

https://vimeo.com/georgialucasgoing

[image - FEELING FEELINGS - 2016 Performance - photo by Katarzyna Perlak]

BnB: First off, tell me a bit about your education.

GLG: My education was varied, privileged and very western. I think the whole education system as a whole in the UK needs shaking up big time. I’m in another institution again after 5 years out , a privileged opportunity which I am grateful for but institutions can be funny things.

BnB: You’re currently attending an MFA in fine art at the Slade, made possible by a scholarship. What does that opportunity mean to you?

GLG: Well this scholarship has allowed me to continue my studies. I wouldn’t been able to do otherwise. So really it means everything to me. I can now become a lecturer, my practice can develop further with all the facilities and amazing tutors at Slade. Personally timing wise this scholarship couldn’t of come at a better time, it’s been a rough few years. A lifeline like no other.

[image - ‘DAD’ 2015, Performance and Drawing]

BnB: Why choose video and performance as a way to convey your subject matter? How does it help you to realise your ideas?

GLG: I am impatient and I get bored very quickly so with all these ‘great’ traits performance and video is a match made in heaven for me. I can set up my camera, turn my selfie mode on my iPhone and make an artwork in minutes. It’s an online sketch book for me. The video may not go anywhere or I may decide that it has something I could use or more often than not I tend to show my first takes. I do however despite my impatience, work on pieces that can take months, but I always do them alongside other quicker artworks. Also you know that feeling of having the words on the tip of your tongue but not quite sure how to say it, or even if you want to vocalise something but not necessarily with words…that is what performance and video solve for me.

BnB: What does Luton mean to you?

GLG: It means home, it means the people I love. It means the Galaxy, Tuesday nights at The Edge, baby sitting, good food, cheap chicken and chips, my neighbours and most importantly it means my mum.

BnB: Will you ever move back there?

GLG: I don’t think so. However much I love Luton I am drawn to cities. Always have been & always will. I’ve got my eyes on New York next… If someone sponsors me that is. Annoying visas!! And more annoyingly borders. Fuck borders!

BnB: What have you been working on most recently?

GLG: Im always working on a few projects at the same time. One of them is a performance for curator Kerry Campbell for the launch of Scott kings latest publication this month. The others are some new sculptures, a dance routine involving hoverboards and getting ready for showing some work at the New Contemporaries.

[image - 'WHEN HUMOUR BECOMES VITAL’ 2015 Performance]

BnB: Who’s the lady in this video?

GLG: My granny!

BnB: And what’s she doing in your works?

GLG: Ive worked with my granny for the past 5 years. I dress her up and take pictures of her. We’ve never been extremely close so this was my way to kind of force myself upon her! She is also blind so she never knows exactly what I’m doing to her which puts the power in my hands, the role reversal of power is interesting. I think it took her a while to warm to me, as i wasn’t white. I found a letter that she had written to my mum about 5 years ago that wasn’t very nice, so in a way how i started the whole process was me basically getting my own back (i.e painting her face in my colour foundation). Our relationship is different now and she does like me and finally expresses it but its taken a good 25 years ha!

BnB: Are there any other instances as a person of colour where you have felt mistreated and do you think being mixed race fuels your practice?

GLG: Ah there have been a few name calling incidents or instances of stereotyping which happens CONSTANTLY! I remember once at school I got called the n word at the dinner table. So I got up calmly from the table & smacked her round the back of her head with my lunch box. Ha. That felt so good! I mean as a mixed raced female my life has been easy as opposed to being a black male for example and some of the struggles you can face. So I always put things into perspective. Knowing your privilege is super important. So in terms of it fuelling my practice it CAN do, but I’m not consumed by the fact I’m mixed raced. I work with what life gives me so to speak. So recently I’ve been dealing with my dads recent passing so for the past few years I’ve been making work about him. So the performance I am doing at the New Contemporaries is all about my dad and the aftermath you’re left with.

BnB: Was it a natural progression to begin making work about your dad? did you want to, or feel you had to?

GLG: Yeah it was a case of survival tbh, either make work or go mad. And naturally the work I started to make just would not NOT be about him, so instead of fighting it I just let go and let it happen. So I had too and now I want too. Plus he was the brightest, funniest & impatient man. So I’ve been working ferociously recently in a way to keep on impressing him.

BnB: You include a few family members in your video works, eg THINK BROTHER THINK, BAJAN UPKEEP TRAINING and K.M.T.; by placing your literal family into your works you tell stories about your heritage and identity. Who are you speaking to when you do this?

GLG: Im speaking to everyone really. The lady in the corner shop, my friends, my tutors, my peers, institutions , art schools, curators, art buyers, people i met in the toilets on a night out, people that hold power and the people that have non.

BnB: What relationship does sculpture have to your other work? What are the advantages of bringing these elements together?

GLG: My sculpture work used to happen once in a blue moon ever since I graduated from my BA but i think that’s a result of not having a studio in 5 years. Now I am back in a studio naturally I’m starting to make larger works. I think it helps ground the videos, it’s just another insight to what I am thinking. Also my sculptures tend to be more mysterious, you don’t get what I’m trying to say so easily as you do with my video and performance work and I like that. I want to be slightly difficult sometimes, so that’s an advantage for me, the mystery with my sculptures.

BnB: You graduated Leeds College of Art in 2010. How were the years in between that and Slade?

GLG: Full of ups and downs but I’ve learnt that’s the life of an artist. Unpredictable. From working for Hirst to serving pizza. Art jobs are scarce, fundings have been cut, but a few decent scholarships still exist. Just. Keep. Going.

BnB: Would you consider that a personal motto?

GLG: Ha maybe one of many, usually they’re a little more expletive than that.

BnB: You’re gonna have to give me an example now!

GLG: 'YOU WILL MAKE SOMETHING SHIT BUT EVENTUALLY YOU’LL MAKE SOMETHING AMAZING’ - I can’t say anymore I’m still scared of getting told off by my mum.

BnB: … Do you think you learned anything important during your placement with Hirst?

GLG: Of course. It was my first employment in the Art world so I was always learning. I learnt more about painting specifically, installing artworks, logistics etc etc The list goes on and on. The importance of your peers that you work with is also a huge one, it was a studio full of artists and these are friendships/connections that I’ve kept up to this day. I’ve been lucky to have worked with some talented artists!

BnB: If you could have dinner with three artists, living or dead, who would they be?

GLG: I was thinking maybe bas jan ader but I think he may be too sad and at a dinner parties I want to have a laugh. Jesse Darling who I’ve never met but I like their work, Sarah Vo who is a photographer / best friend & Joseph Buckley , we’ve never met IRL either yet have spoken a lot about institutions & race etc. If you could provide a free bar and East Anglia records to play for the dinner after party that would be great too 😉

BnB: What gives you energy to make work?

GLG: It’s a matter of being happy. I’m a bit of a workaholic & the pace is increasing as I get older. Plus artists are insecure creatures and I’m one of them. I work for 'praise’.

BnB: You’re also involved in producing a publication, can you tell us about that?

GLG: I met the rest of DUPE when we were all working for the same artist. It was a way of making something for ourselves, being our own bosses even if it meant not making any money really. All of us are practising artists trying to carve our way and we can interview other artists who’s work we’re obsessed with basically, theres nothing better than that! An issue comes out each year and with a different theme. There’s been Hairy, Road Trip, Dark and Wild. We’re still deciding on this years theme….keep posted. @wearedupe

BnB: You had the role of creative in residence/graduate fellow (whatever they’re calling it now) at Leeds College of Art during 2013-14. How did you find that experience?

GLG: That was really my chance to make a body of work for my MFA/MA submissions and it bloody helped! It gave me the actual time to create work. I was away from london so it cut the price of living in half. So i could actually work p/t and make new artworks and use all the facilities, which i hadn’t had any access too for over 3 years. I was going mental with happiness. There is still an issue with payment, institutions and funding though, i couldn’t of done this in London. I’ve got a funny story actually, whilst i was there i had the opportunity to be a guest lecturer and i worked at a pub in Leeds as well. One of my students saw me at my p/t job and said loudly, 'So this is what i’ve got to look forward to when i graduate working here!?’. Hahaha. I feel for her if no ones told her how hard being an Artist is, she’s going to have a heart attack!

BnB: And lastly, how important do you feel it is to make your practice really broad? In terms of your art work, plus extra things like teaching and publications to trigger discussion? Can an artist just make art or do you have to be a multi-output creative to be taken seriously?

GLG: Ah good questions!! I do all these things for a few reasons, one I hope to work for myself one day & I believe that in doing all this it will help me get to that stage. Also every damn application there is people ALWAYS ask for experience, you have graduates not getting jobs invigilating a gallery yet have spent over £40k on their degrees. So in response give yourself that experience without having to rely fully on something or somebody else because at the end of the day we need to be employed, we need to be paid and regularly. I do more work the more I get rejected and I am a bit of a workaholic anyway. In terms of my work being broad it’s just what I do and always have done. Sometimes I think it would just be easier to be a painter that works purely on canvas, but that’s never going to happen.

[image - 'DAD’ - 2016 , Sculpture , Water fountain]

interview conducted by Lydia Brockless via facebook messenger during March and April 2016